Excellent teamwork

Three members of one of Meningitis Now’s supporter families ran together in the London Parks Vitality 10k on bank holiday Monday – and between them raised a fantastic £2,800

Peter Styles took on the challenge in memory of his daughter Emily, who died from meningitis aged just 19-years-old on New Years day 2014. He was joined by Emily’s cousin Lucy Skoulding, and Emily’s aunt Julie.

In all, 25 Meningitis Now runners took on the London 10k this year – between them raising thousands of pounds. None of them were faster than the overall fastest runner of the day – one Mo Farah – but everyone certainly put in a massive effort.

For Peter, it was his first ever 10k. Wife Julia, who was cheering him and the others on from the side lines, said that the three family members had raised so much money between them that they had received passes to the Vitality VIP enclosure located right on the finish line!

“Lucy, Julie and Peter all finished the event and were very proud of their efforts in memory of Emily,” said Julia, who has herself raised an incredible £32,000 for Meningitis Now through lots of different fundraising efforts, as well as plenty of awareness raising about the disease.

“The whole family hope that Emily’s legacy will be that one day nobody loses their life to meningitis – which sadly isn’t the case at the moment. The family’s message is clear: please learn about signs and symptoms of meningitis and please remember Emily. She will always be a wonderful daughter, big sister, cousin, niece, granddaughter and best friend”.

Meningitis Now Events Fundraising Assistant Viv Jones, who went along to cheer on the Meningitis Now runners, said: “It was an absolute pleasure to be able to meet our fabulous London 10k team.

“Peter, Lucy and Julie really knocked it out of the park with their fundraising and it was wonderful to be able to reward their efforts with some VIP treatment, rubbing shoulders with Mo Farah. He thanks Peter for setting his pace for the race. In total, #TeamTangerine raised an amazing £9,549 - a fantastic total for such a compact team of 25 runners. You are all superstars!”.